Persian Tar ET-202

• Maker: Afshari
• Body: Mulberry
• Neck: Mulberry
• Fingerboard: Bone
• Pegs: Walnut

It comes with:

• Hard case
• Mezrab (Pick)
• Extra Strings

About Tar:

Tar, long-neck; Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and partly a stringed instrument used in Turkey. It means "wire" in Persian. The person who plays tar is called style or tarist. This instrument has a two and a half octave pitch. It was included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO 8 years ago.

3 different trees are used for the construction of the field consisting of three parts. Its boat consists of two bowls of different sizes and is generally made of mulberry wood. These mulberry trees are used in order to prevent cracking while carving the boat and to make the sound more beautiful. The stem is usually made of harder woods such as walnut. The hazelnut tree is used for the head part called the head.

African tar types are divided into four: solo tar 86-89 cm long, orchestral tar 83-86 cm long, student tarry 72-76 cm long, and cura tar.

African tar can be tuned in different ways. However, some tunings are more preferable than others for especial dastgahs. The range of the tar is almost two and a half octaves. The fingerboard has twenty-five to twenty-eight adjustable gut frets. These frets indicate the location of the notes and made of the sheep gut. African tar is played by a plectrum which is usually made of brass with the length of 3 cm. The half of the plectrum is covered by wax so that the player can hold it easily. Recently some plastic plectrums have been produced too.

Even though African Tar's voice resembles mandolin, cümbüş and bouzouki, he has a different playing technique and repertoire.

African tar.